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Monday, May 23, 2011

True Confession Time

It's true confession time. After starting this fitness challenge I did not stop playing soccer. As soon as my knees were strong enough, I was back out on the field. Honestly, the boxing and rock climbing really prepared me to go back on the pitch... and then I stopped those activities and just kept playing soccer. Bad idea.

Two weeks ago I sprained my ankle. In the photo you can see me doing all the right things as soon as I got injured. RICE: Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate. Plus one of the other players had ibuprofen to help ease the swelling and the pain.

Urgh! It's a frustrating cycle.

If you've been injured you know what I'm going through. You're injured, so you can't play the games you love because you're not at your optimum fit level. And it's a challenge to get fit, because you're injured and can't do your regular routine.

As I was slamming my fists in frustration (and yes, a bit of pain too), my teammates rushed over because they were worried it was my knee again. Thank goodness it wasn't. Instead, it was a new and equally annoying injury. And my first two thoughts were - "There goes my soccer career (again & forever!)", and then... "s@#*! There goes my summer of outdoor activity."

Luckily it was just a sprain. However, it has made biking difficult. And I'm at a crossroad again trying to decide if it's time to give up on the game I love the most.

Last weekend I went out for a fairly stunted bike ride. I know I'm supposed to write about the good stuff, but can I complain about the challenges of cycling through traffic for a moment? I'm not on a road bike and I'm glad; the smooth wheels and high speed scare me when I know I'm driving on a road shared with cars much larger than me. It's one thing to be a commuter cyclist (p.s. Bike to Work Week is coming up soon: biketowork.ca), but it's another when you're trying to outpace the cars and go for gold.

I'm fortunate to live in a city that is set up for all kinds of activity. We have a beautiful trail called the Galloping Goose. Although it's not perfect - there are wooden bridges that hurt to cycle over and there are a lot of pedestrians - you don't have to compete against cars and it's pretty scenic.

We'll see what the next week brings. Hopefully sunshine, a healed ankle, and more excitement on the road!

2 comments:

Bronwyn, I just started following your blog and am interested in your biking adventures in Victoria. I know how intimidating it is riding with traffic. But hey, try riding in the suburbs of Chicago. Here hitting cyclist has been raised to the level of a sport! A suggestion is to ride with a group for road rides, safety in numbers. Also you do get used to "staring down" the drivers! Good luck.

Thanks for the encouragement Tricia. I can only guess how much more intimidating it would be riding in a the suburbs of a city as big as Chicago. Group ride is a good idea; just not sure I'm quite fast enough to join. I know. Excuses, excuses, right?! ;)